Digest

November 28, 2007|STAFF REPORTS

South Florida

27 fatalities reported in state over holiday weekend

The Florida Highway Patrol investigated 27 fatalities during the Thanksgiving weekend, five more than it investigated last year for the same five-day period, according to Highway Patrol Sgt. Mark Wysocky. The 27 fatalities are based on a preliminary report, Wysocky said on Tuesday.

Last year, the highway patrol investigated 22 deaths, he said.

Out of the 27 deaths investigated by the highway patrol, two happened in Miami-Dade County and one in Palm Beach County, the report said. There were no fatalities reported in Broward.

The Thanksgiving driving period began Wednesday and lasted through Sunday.

Four of this year's deaths have been labeled alcohol-related, with 10 others still pending investigation. The Palm Beach County fatality and one of the Miami-Dade deaths are on that list, according to the report.

Lauderdale Lakes

Male body found; foul play suspected

The Broward Sheriff's Office is investigating the slaying of a man whose fully-clothed body was found on Tuesday behind Affordable Sprinklers, at 2754 NW 29 Terrace, said Sheriff's Office spokesman Jim Leljedal.

Employees of the sprinkler business spotted a body underneath a tree just to the east of the business about 12:30 p.m.

Although no details about how he died were being released, investigators found evidence of foul play, Leljedal said. Investigators aren't sure if he was killed under the tree or elsewhere.

"We are investigating this as a murder," Leljedal said.

As of late Tuesday, the victim's identity was unknown. He was described only as a black man in his 20s or 30s.

Hollywood

Man accused of using ethnic slurs at store

Police arrested a man on hate crime charges, accusing him of using ethnic slurs and threatening a convenience store worker, police said Tuesday.

Police arrested Rosendale on aggravated assault/hate crime and drug possession charges. He was being held on $54,600 bail in the Main Jail.

Davie

Police accuse suspect of armed sexual battery

A Davie man was charged Tuesday with armed sexual battery and locked up in Broward County's Main Jail without bail.

Julio Angel Rodriguez, 29, was arrested after a woman who visited his apartment early that day with a friend said he pointed a gun at her chest and then forced himself on her, according to a police report. The woman said she had been passed out in the apartment when Rodriguez woke her and that she repeatedly told Rodriguez to stop, police said.

The woman and a friend immediately called 911 from outside Rodriguez's apartment in the 6100 block of Southwest 37th Court, police said.

When questioned by police, Rodriguez admitted to having sex with the woman but said it was consensual, the report states.

Margate

Medicare Bus Tour to stop today at senior center

Seniors can receive their flu shot, plus be enrolled in a program that gives people on limited incomes help with their medication costs, when the Medicare Bus Tour makes a stop in Margate today.

The bus, which will have health care workers available to give shots as well as federal benefits counselors, will be in the parking lot of the Northwest Focal Point Senior Center, 6009 NW 10th St., from 10 a.m. to noon.

Medicare subsidies, which will pay up to $3,600 toward prescription costs, are available to individuals with incomes less than $15,315 ($23,410 for couples).